Can someone explain to me what a "four-dimensional" theater is? I've only been to a couple 3-D theaters but I haven't seen a 4-D one yet. Does it project into a hidden spectrum I'm not aware of or is it merely scanned into my brain?

The bulk of the megaprojects seem to come from Hyundai and Lotte. I've heard rumors that some of the megacorps are partially government backed. Other projects like the Incheon twins and Dream Hub/Tripple1 were governement backed, but the government (perhaps wisely, perhaps not) decided to drop the backing and those projects are dead.

Like Japan, activity/growth is concentrated in the cities, with some depopulation of the countryside.

But the point is that South Korea is a tiny country with a declining population. It has one of the lowest birthrates on the planet and almost no immigration. It doesn't really seem to be a place where megatowers make any sense, because it has a small population now, and a future with an even smaller population.

That's why I was wondering if there was some govt. impetus behind these proposals, like one sees in Dubai or China.

I mean, neighboring Japan has three times the population, a higher birthrate, and higher per capita wealth, but they don't build such crazy stuff. There has to be some non-market impetus behind these projects, I would think.

But the point is that South Korea is a tiny country with a declining population. It has one of the lowest birthrates on the planet and almost no immigration. It doesn't really seem to be a place where megatowers make any sense, because it has a small population now, and a future with an even smaller population.

Wrong.

South Korea's population is still growing, albeit slowly at about 200k per year despite the low birthrate. This includes significant immigration from China. Yes, there are Chinatowns in Seoul and Busan. Korea isn't quite so xenophobic as Japan to not allow immigration.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogra...of_South_Korea

That's why I was wondering if there was some govt. impetus behind these proposals, like one sees in Dubai or China.

I mean, neighboring Japan has three times the population, a higher birthrate, and higher per capita wealth, but they don't build such crazy stuff. There has to be some non-market impetus behind these projects, I would think.

There was plenty of crazy stuff proposed in Japan during the 80's boom years (Aeropolis, X-seed, etc), and they just finished building the tallest observation tower in the world(Tokyo Skytree).

As for non market impetus, like I said, the Korea companies, particularly Hyundai and Lotte want to make a mark with their towers. Quite a few of them when originally proposed could have been WTB. Also, did you miss where I said

Quote:

Originally Posted by scalziand

Other projects like the Incheon twins and Dream Hub/Tripple1 were governement backed, but the government (perhaps wisely, perhaps not) decided to drop the backing and those projects are dead.

So yes, there certainly is a bit of 'non-market impetus' to these projects. But they are not entirely unjustifiable. That is why most of them were canned, and only a couple are moving forward.

I don't understand what I'm wrong about. Again, South Korea has a declining population, low birth rate, and low in-migration. Even the urban population is shrinking. It has a small population relative to that of Japan. Birthrate is barely over 1, and population expected to decline about 15% over the next few decades.

Busan is a small city about the population of Minneapolis. Relative density is irrelevant; no one builds supertalls due to urbanized population area densities, as supertalls are inherently less efficient than regular highrises.

The Japanese stuff you mentioned are either crazy proposals from 25-30 years ago or television towers, neither of which really are relevant.

I am not challenging this construction, or saying anything negative about it, I'm just trying to understand the background behind South Korea's tower proposals. There are usually special circumstances around such impressive proposals, as we see in places like China and Dubai. It could just be that the corporations in Korea see these towers as essentially marketing tools for their firms, and South Korea does have a strong economy, so maybe the combination of these two factors are the main driving points?